Herb shopping at the Markets

I dont get the chance to go to the fresh food markets very often. Yesterday I managed to give the family the slip and head to the Northey Street Organic Markets in Brisbane. Always a lovely atmosphere and you never know what you may find. I was hoping to shop at a stall where a young man sells the more unusual wild foods of the region, but he does not appear to be there anymore. A little disheartened I checked out the other stalls and was very pleasantly surprised to find one that had lots of little baskets with herbs that were not the usual culinary fare on offer every where else.

Some of you, especially those from the Northern Hemisphere, may be a bit amused at what I brought home. My basket was full of basil, mint, English spinach, dandelion greens, fat hen, cobblers pegs, ribwort plantain and marhsmallow. Yes I do know that some of these I could grow in my own garden and others grow by the wayside but with our ridiculous weather my mint and basil are well below par and being in the subtropics our waysides arent always that green. Plus it was fun seeing these things at the market when you are just used to seeing rosemary, thyme, parsely and the like.

There are a few recipes I’d like to make with this green bounty, and of course I will share them with you. Firstly, since it is Pancake Tuesday very soon (tomorrow for me, a bit longer for some of you) I will start with a herb pancake recipe. Then I shall use the dandelion greens in an Italian soup recipe I found on the net that tickled my interest and lastly, I thought I would make some Greek Purslane Pesto and see how that goes. I’ll let you know how it all goes 🙂

Havent made the pesto yet, I’ll have to find more purslane first, but i am sure i’ll have enough in the garden. Marshmallow has expectorant properties and it soothes and softens tissue, while controlling bacterial infections. Feverfew has long been used as a migraine treatment.